Silent Reverie
by SmirkingHatter
Summary: She saw no point for her to stay alive. She's not important and she's nothing but a burden. No one ever thought the ex-avenger would be the one to show her a whole new definition of "Life." Discontinued.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hi, this is my first Naruto fanfic, so...sorry if there's many mistakes. I know, I know. I haven't finished two of my stories yet :| but "Accepting Reality," is near the end so I had decided to take a short hiatus. While "An Unsolved Riddle,"... *shrugs* I just decided to take the story slowly~ so bear with me:) enjoyy

Disclaimer: Everyone knows that I DON'T own Naruto. *pout*

.

Silent Reverie

Chapter one

.

She did not understand.

The girl with the dark indigo hair tilted her head up, staring at the dark rainy sky. She was soaking wet, but at that point, she just didn't care anymore.

The girl smiled, a slow cold smile. She was standing at the middle of the training ground, a kunai clutched on her left hand whereas her right was playing with the drops of water. It was pouring heavily now, and she abruptly wondered, as she heard the thunder roaring above her, _had someone noticed that she was not home?_

She laughed softly, the sound being foreign to her own ears. It had been a long time since she last heard herself laughing. No one at home like to hear her laugh. So she never did, staying silent all the time.

_"You're a disgrace."_

It felt like a slap. And then...

_"I wish you've never been born at all, so Hanabi can be the leader of the Hyuuga Clan. It's a much important job for a weakling like you."_

...A stab.

_Thousands of stabs._

Oh, but she did not cry. She had grown tired of crying since a long time ago. She had noticed that her father hate her, yes, since she was still a little girl. But then she had also noticed that the hatred in his eyes grew everytime he saw her cry. So she stopped crying, finding solace in her team mates, the only people who had always cared for her. They had always managed to keep her spirits up, managed to give her something to wait for at the end of the day. But then, of course, they had to go and left her alone. Just like everything else did.

She smiled bitterly, recalling the day when her team mates had looked so grim. Shino did the talking. The two boys were sent to live in Sunagakure by the Hokage because Konoha needed to have representative there. They had refused, of course. Saying that's there's absolutely no way they would go as a team without Hinata. Her heart had warmed instantly, because that's the first time anyone had said that they did something because of her.

And that was the first time she wanted to be selfish. She wanted to keep them in Konoha with her. But of course, she's Hinata Hyuuga. She can't be selfish. So she shook her head and smiled. The two boys looked at her as she said something that she knew she would regret: _"I'll be fine, no need to worry about me."_

Kiba sighed, his eyes looking at her sadly. Shino asked her then, his voice full of uncertainty, _"Are you sure?"_

She was at the brink of tears when he asked her that. Not trusting her voice, she nodded and smiled a quick smile at them and muttered something about her curfew. And then she ran away, because she had vowed that she wouldn't cry.

They departed from Konoha the day after that. She did not come to see them. She did not come to see them although they had stood, leaning against the Hyuuga mansions' gate, waiting for her to come down and talk to them since six in the morning until the time they had to leave, four in the afternoon. Kiba's yells at her did not help anything. The boy had yelled, accompanied by Akamaru's barking and Shino's surprisingly loud shouting, that they're gonna be home as fast as they could, and that they're going to finish the damn job as soon as possible. She was in her room, crying openly then, sobbing. The only time she had really cried after she learned not to.

But by the time when she had mustered enough courage to run to the gate, they were already gone.

It had been two months. It had been two months since their departure. They had not come back yet. And somehow she had already known that they would not write a single letter.

A slash.

The blood trickled down her arm in an odd calming sensation. She broke out from her daze, suddenly realizing that she had accidentally cut her arm. Oh. She should have panicked. Isn't that what normal people do when they have a cut large enough to make them feel light headed? She moved her eyes from the gray clouds to her bleeding arm.

Strange.

If it was at usual rate she would have already gotten herself a first aid, she studied medic afterall, but.. She did not feel like it.

She looked down as her grip on the kunai tightened. To her, the pain in her heart, her mind, however, was piercing, clawing at her in such agony that she could not feel the trickling of the blood and how the wound had hurt so badly when the heavy rain slammed down on the open flesh.

Another slash of kunai. This time, it was on purpose. Because how comfortable was the feeling she got, no, she would not call it pain. She would not call it pain, not when it could not compare to the sick feeling her heart felt. The feeling that her wound had inflicted was so much better than the feeling of being unwanted.

Her legs gave out and she let herself slid into a sitting position on the muddy ground. Darkness had engulfed everything around her and the wind was blowing madly. Most likely a storm was coming her way. Her body trembled because of the cold. She bit her bottom lip, suddenly feeling uncertain about what she was doing. _Maybe she should stop, Kiba and Shino..._

Her eyes widened slowly, as if she just realized something, and she lifted her head.

_...Would not care._

Another slash.

It's true, isn't it? It's true because what,-" If they actually cared about her, they would at least write a letter to her, a few words, hell. She would not even care if they had only written her name on it because they were very busy. But at least...she would know that she got people who actually cared about her. _But they don't. Do they?_

A slash.

_"Sister, I don't want to hurt your feeling,"_ a smile and cold glaring eyes stared at her. _"But I wish I'm the only child."_

Slash.

Hanabi used to be so nice to her. So sweet, resembling their dear mother very deeply. Mother...

_Why. Did. You. Have. To. Die._

Double slash.

_"Hinata-sama. You're no one to me. Stop calling me with that bloody annoying 'Neji-niisan'."_ His voice was hard, eyes filled with distaste as he mimicked her soft voice calling him nii-san.

Slash.

She had always wanted to have a brother. Kiba and Shino are her brothers, of course. But she had always wanted to have an actual brother from the Hyuuga clan. Neji used to be so joyful and caring to her. The kind of protective yet nice and fun brother. That was, until his father's death.

A breath, and she paused for a moment, savoring the feeling of metal against her bloody arm. Her white clothes are tainted red, and now, instead of sitting in the mud, she was sitting in a pool of blood. Her lungs were starting to burn, her eyes unfocused and she felt light headed.

Her eyes grew scared. And she panicked, for a second. I can't go home like this! Father will be mad!

She scrambled clumsily to her feet, but having lost so much blood, she no longer had the energy to stand. So half way standing, she let herself fell again.

She sighed, twirling the kunai she was clutching.

How she hates disappointing her father. But then again, she could not do anything to satisfy him. Everything she had done did not satisfy him. And she was positive that everything she's going to do would not satisfy him either.

_"... I wish you're not my child."_

Her body trembled, shaking. And there was it again, the urge to cover the feeling of loneliness with something else. So she smiled, and lifted the kunai.

Slash.

_"You're a mistake."_

Slash.

_"You should be grateful that I even bothered to take care of someone as unworthy as you."_

Slash.

She saw no point for her to go home.

She wondered then. She wondered, _'If I die, would anyone notice it?'_

Slash.

Her eyes flashed. She was no longer thinking clearly, but she was still well aware that she was following the train of thoughts to a place; _Afterlife? Maybe?_ That is, if she was worthy enough to die.

Slash.

A voice whispered from the back of her mind: _"Why don't you give it a try and find out?"_

"Maybe that's exactly what I'm going to do." She replied, her voice surprisingly loud and hard. She had gotten rid of her stutter since the chunnin exam was over, but she still could not speak with such high volume.

If someone had looked from afar, the sight would look beautiful yet terrifying at the same time. An angel bathed in the red of blood with such crazed look on her face. That person would be stuck standing on the spot, too paralyzed to move.

But of course, no one was outside in this stormy weather.

The girl twisted her arm so that her kunai was pointing directly to her chest. Her eyelids fluttered closed, and she raised her chin up. Everyone's life would be better after her death. She was sure of it.

Kiba and Shino will have one less burden on their back.

Hanabi will be the leader of the Hyuuga clan, something she had always desired.

Neji can literally erase their bond as siblings.

_Father..._

She smiled softly.

Father will finally earn his dream. Hanabi's his only child, and he will no longer has to be ashamed.

Yes. She has no friends or whatsoever so everyone would be able to continue living their life normally. She's just doing a favor for them by getting rid of a speck of dust in their lives.

_Mother, wait for me..._

And her hand moved to stab herself, directly on her heart.

But a strong pale hand grabbed her arm, preventing her to do so.

Her eyelids flew open and she stared at a pair of flashing onyx eyes. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

Her breath hitched. No one's supposed to see her...not like this. "I..."

Her world spinned and then all she was able to see was: _blackness._

.

To be continued.

.

A/N: Next chapter coming up if this story receive at least 9 reviews. Yes, 9 reviews. I'm looking for a beta for this story and my other story, the Bleach one, "Accepting Reality." Interested? PM me please :)


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: OMG I love you guys! Thanks for the reviews : )

Special thanks to **Elviol vi Yogyakarta** for being my first reviewer and **SparkleUnderTheMidnightSun**for being the second. Ah yes, I apologize for my mistakes cause English is not my main language so..., once again, I'm totally sorry. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Naruto. Who am I? Masashi Kishimoto? Ha. Don't think so.

.

**Silent Reverie**

**Chapter Two**

.

She was falling.

There's nothing around her but the color black, all around her in the so called darkness.

She jerked her face down, trying to see the end of this endless fall. But she saw nothing except of the dark. Hinata Hyuuga loved the dark. Contrary to the many beliefs saying that she's one to like sunshine, warmth, and all those bright colors, she's the exact opposite.

Why should she like the sun? There's nothing special about it. She used to think that the sun is very beautiful, spreading its grace to the living things underneath. She used to love the sun. When she was little, whenever the day's sunny, her mother used to take her to enjoy a picnic at the park. But then after her mother's death, she learned that whenever there's sun, father would ask her to train with him. It's not that she minded, their training times were the only times he really gave his attention to her. Even though it was by the form of endless insults, she used to think that he said all those horrible things to make her stronger. But no, eventually she found out that he said those insults because he literally _hated_ her with passion. She grew to hate the sun.

Bright colors made her sick. It swirled around her in uncomfortable manners and made her head dizzy. All her clothes were bright colored though. Because, well, she never bought her own clothes. All those she had was given to her. And people just assumed she loved those colors. Of course she, being Hinata Hyuuga, couldn't say the truth and disapoint them. _Could she_?

She closed her eyes in pleasure. There's nothing but her, darkness, and gravity in this crazy empty world. She couldn't ask for anything more, could she?

_This is everything she could possibly wish for._

Of course she had wished for a happy ending. She's a girl afterall. Those fairy tales affected her. But having the harsh reality being slammed straight onto her face did not help at all. She gave up almost abruptly.

_This is heaven_, she thought.

Hinata Hyuuga twisted in mid-air, spread her arms, and disappeared. Engulfed in total darkness.

.

Sasuke Uchiha caught the petite girl just before her head hit the ground. _What the fuck was she doing?_ He growled in distaste at the pouring rain. Had the rain did not clouded his vision; he might has come to her aid sooner. He cut his train of thoughts, focusing his mind at the girl in his arms. _Crap._

_What should he do now_? He had _absolutely no fucking idea._

Deciding that the first thing he had to is to stop the bleeding of the wound on her arm, the ex-avenger of Konoha formed some hand seals, one he had learned to treat his own injuries. A calming rush of red chakra seeped out from the tip of his fingers, and he ran it slowly above her open flesh. Quickly after that he tore his outer shirt off, leaving him in a white sweat shirt. He was soaking wet now, but so was she. He cut his favorite black shirt to form a long bandage. Oh, did he mention that it was his fucking favorite shirt?

He wrapped the bandage securely around her arm, tying it into secure knots. Sasuke cursed under his breath as he saw that the jutsu he had performed plus the bandage did not stop her bleeding, although he managed to slow it with much relief. The Uchiha was no medic. He swore that he was the exact opposite, someone who was better at making other people injured than healing them. Luckily he knew first aid, since he treated his own wounds by himself, but he rarely had serious wounds. And he was fucking sure this wound she was suffering now was no where near the term 'minor' injuries.

The Uchiha prodigy stood up with the girl in his arms. He started running. His first thought was to bring her to the Konoha hospital, but against his better judgment, he decided not to. He did not fucking knew why, but he was as sure as hell that if he wanted to commit a suicide and failed, the hospital would be the place that he will stay away from. He did not know what had possessed him to think so, since he had a dying girl in his arms and her safety was definitely supposed to be his priority, but the ex-avenger halted in his middle steps on one of the slippery roof of one of the house in the village, and turned his direction to his house. Away from Konoha's hospital.

They arrived at the empty Uchiha grounds in a flash, and he hurriedly bring who he assumed was Hinata Hyuuga inside his house, noting instantly that the girl was barely breathing, her body was trembling and her lips were blue. _Fuck_, the ex-avenger thought. _She's out cold_.

He brought her to one of the empty room in his house, putting her gently on the bed before he quickly unbuttoned the shirt she was wearing. He had to get her out of those soaking wet clothes. At normal rate, he would blush although he would successfully mask it by his indifference, but at that time he was too preoccupied to stop and think. He put her in one of his dry shirt and tucked her firmly underneath two layers of blanket and reached through his pocket, pulling out a talking device in the shape of a token, the team seven's personal communication device and Kakashi Hatake's invention.

He shook the device three times before he murmured to it, "Sakura."

Silence.

The dark haired young man sighed, before he tried again. "Sakura."

There was a buzzing sound and he heard some shuffling as though someone was furiously searching for something. He grimaced as he heard her sleepy but sickly sweet voice replied to him, "Yes, sasuke-kun?"

"I need you to come here. Now."

.

Sakura Haruno did not like to meddle with other people's business, but that was probably half the truth, since she always ended up messing others' problem anyways. But although that was the fact, she respected her teammates, and she believed that giving them privacy was what she's supposed to do and because of their bonds, they will tell her their problems eventually. But it never worked that way with Sasuke Uchiha.

And dare she say, she was, madly in love with _him_.

Sakura's a medic, and a very good one. Being the fifth's apprentice did not mean nothing. She earned her skills and she was very proud of it. That night, she was suffering the desperate need to sleep after a very long day, and she plopped herself down on her bed the very second she arrived at home, welcoming the lullaby of sleep. Her eyelids were dropping, and she snuggled her pillow, sighing in comfort. She heard voices, and her eyes snapped open_. Sasuke-kun's voice!_

She wondered for a moment, maybe she was just too exhausted and so she imagined things. She was about to get back to her sleep when she heard it again, the gruff voice with a bit more impatience in it than before. _"Sakura."_

She leaped out of her bed. She tried to think more quickly, counting the possible possibilities. Alas, her brain seemed to finally work as she practically slammed her white wardrobe doors open and scrambled for the device she had kept in her precious box. It's rarely used anyways, so she did not think he'll use it.

A breath, and she squealed her reply to the device, although she was not fully awake yet, her competitive mind shrieked in excitement to tell her rival, Ino, about what had happened.

She disappeared with a poof after she heard his demand.

And that's exactly how she had ended here: In Sasuke Uchiha's house. A moment she had been waiting for since the academy days. She had imagined that when she visited his house alone without her teammates for the first time, he would open up and talk and praise her for everything she is, _but noooo_..

The pink haired girl glanced downwards, looking at the pale Hyuuga who was slowly regaining her breath. Instead she has to take care of this girl she barely even remembers. Her frown increased as she saw that the 'Sasuke Uchiha' was anxious. His face did not betray anything though, and if it's not for his rigid posture she would not manage to detect his feeling. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, and she could feel dark eyes watching her every movements closely and she nearly blushed because of the intensity of them.

She had always loved his eyes. Those adoringly beautiful onyx eyes.

The pink haired girl made sure that the Hyuuga girl's breathing had slowed down to normal, double checked her body temperature and heartbeat, before she looked up to the Uchiha and said, "She's fine now."

She almost gasped as she saw an emotion, relief, fleet across his face. Even though it was only for a single second, she was sure. She had watched him for a very long time, and that was new. That emotion other than those angry glares, those smirks, and that indifference…it's new, and the girl suddenly felt something in the pit of her stomach. Her breath hitched, because at that moment, she knew that she was jealous. Jealous to an unconscious girl who's probably nobody.

"Hn."

Sakura stood up and stretched her muscles, those nagging thoughts still bothering her. She took off her gloves, throwing them absentmindedly into a trash can she had asked him to provide. She needed to know why. Why in the world that girl ended up with him, _bloodied_? No, _pfft_, of course she was not accusing him of anything. She believed in him. But she had to know why, why with all those people in the village, she had to end up with him, and why _his_ house? He had never brought anyone other than her, Naruto, or Kakashi-sensei to his house before.

"Sasuke-kun," she started, using her professional voice as a cover. "You do understand that I have to ask how she got those wounds, right?"

His speculative eyes watched her for a moment and he jerked his face a bit to the left, as if he was thinking before he finally answered shortly. "An accident."

It was obvious that he did not want to talk about it. But she held her grounds, not letting the matter go. "This is a serious problem, Sasuke-kun. Because those wounds seemed to be self inflicted and,-"

He cut her off, annoyed. "It's nothing to be worried about."

She protested abruptly, "Of course it's something to be worried about! This is actually pretty serious and I have to report it to Tsunade-sama."

Swirling red pupils met green. "You would not breathe to anyone a word about this." His voice was icy when he said that, a hard edge on the end of the sentence. She took a step back.

"What do you mean?" She laughed nervously, taking another step back, surprised at the quick change of demeanor.

His eyes flashed and he replied calmly. "Let's just call this a secret," red slowly seeped out from his pupils, and onyx eyes filled with warning stared at her widening ones. "Thanks. Now, _Get out_."

.

Her head pounded continuously, mercilessly digging into her skull.

_Kami-sama_, she flinched, clutching her head with both of her hands. Her head hurts, and the pain was not getting any better. It's just getting worse. She closed her eyes. She was in the dark, there's nothing to see anyways. Isn't death the only way to escape life's pain?

Whoever said that there will be no pain after death, is a liar.

The girl whimpered, having found out that the pain was terribly excruciating, as if someone was stabbing her head thousands of times with a kunai.

"_Hyuuga_."

She heard a voice. Calling her.

"_Hyuuga_."

There was it again.

The voice was thundering in the empty space, and she did not feel comfortable because of it. It broke the silence. She loved the silence.

"_Fuck, wake up will you_?"

She scrunched her nose, her distaste and wonder were plain obvious. _Who does he think he is? Ordering her around like that. _She assumed that it was a 'he', since she was definitely sure it was a male voice.

"_Hyuuga_."

This time, it was a whisper.

Her headache increased, and she wished that the voice would go away, because it was doing her no good other than bothering her.

"_Wake up_." She didn't want to. And why the heck he kept telling her to wake up? There's no way to come back after death. She did not want to be rude, but she was pretty sure that he was dumb.

There's a good solid silence for a minute, and she wished it was because the voice had given up.

Apparently, she was wrong. No surprise there. After all, her father hated her because she was stupid. "_Fine then. You left me no choice_."

She left him no choice? She scoffed. What's that voice doing in her world anyways? She wanted nothing more than to be left alone. But that was her wish, and she guessed she did not deserve it to be granted. She deserved _nothing_.

The girl started to tremble, the aching feeling in her chest starting to grow. She curled, hugging her knees close to her chest, burying her face behind her folded arms. Why, even after her death..._Why doesn't she deserve some peace?_

_Just leave me alone._

But then, a burst of white light screwed her only wish.

_._

A/N: Yes, very boring, I know that. But I promise there's a lot of excitement in the next chapter! At first I had intended to add some things but then I decided to make all the exciting part as one chapter, yes, you guessed right, the chapter three! I'll update if the reviews hit 22, so, leave me some comments please : )? Oh, I also apologize for Sasuke's ...erm... harsh language. In my defence, he panicked :/


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto. Blablabla. Meh.

A/N: Gosh I love you guys! Thanks for the reviews! Sorry for the late update, school started last week and the teachers suddenly found it exciting to give us-students-million piles of homeworks. Enough of this rambling, enjoy!

.

Using sharingan to sneak into other people's vulnerable mind might not be the solution. But he was rushed by the time, and he could not afford to be late. Not to the mission that's going to make his rank as an anbu finally official. He had passed many tests, exams, simulation trainings that he had pointed out to be useless, B ranked solo missions, and he had finally earned the damn fifth hokage's trust.

And now he's not going to let what had happened the day before blew everything off. He had already done a good deed, which, if he may pointed out to be obvious, he never did before. It's not something a normal Uchiha would do. _A once in a life time_ doing. He grunted, pulling a chair near the bedside to support himself as he perform the jutsu. He sat down on the maroon colored chair, tugging the annoying blanket around the sleeping girl. _This is ridiculous_.

He debated for a second whether it's going to worth the risk for him to use a jutsu that had been declared as dangerous for someone other than a Yamanaka, he frowned for a sec, recalling the moment when he had tried to use it. Well, he did manage to bring Suigetsu back, eventhough it was a little bit hard for him to enter his mind. It was worth the risk at that time, because he did bring Suigetsu back, but now? For someone he barely knows?

His jaw clenched. He had no other option. He couldn't just left her alone in his jouse, could he? She would wake up in a frantic state if she's alone. And then the only house in the Uchiha complex without a taint of blood would be painted with that red liquid. And he'll lost the frickin hokage's trust because of that. Yeahright. Like he would let that happen.

He moved his right hand above his left, performing a familiar seal. The jutsu he performed was similar to the Yamanaka's. A slight difference, they may be, but the basic was still the same. His mind was swept off in an ease, as it separated itself from his body entered Hyuuga Hinata's unconscious mind. His limp hand made a thud sound when it hit the wooden floor.

.

Sasuke opened his eyes.

He did not know what was supposed to be more surprising. The fact that he had managed to perfectly perform the jutsu he had never been able to do well before, or the fact that he had ended up somewhere . . .

He frowned, eyeing the black world around him. Each person's mind has a different layout, and from what he had briefly learned from the endless scrolls of techniques in the Uchihas library, the form of someone's mind represents that person. And he had guessed how her mind would look like. She's a girl, so he had pictured in his mind; a field of flowers and that cheerful kind of stuffs. He had guessed, but instead . . . .

He frowned, lifting a long finger in front of him. He sensed no air, but strangely he had no trouble breathing. So this is . . . . . , he jerked his head upwards. Emptiness.

A pair of red eyes flared, glaring at the nothingness wrapped around him. Really, he's in no mood for jokes like this. His eyes suddenly narrowed as he spotted something-correction, someone-hunched on the ground, a good thirty feet from where he was standing. He raised an eyebrow as a curious expression fleets across his face. Hyuuga?

Suddenly alert of the time limit, he moved his feet quickly and soundlessly to the spot where she was huddled at.

She was sitting, her knees against her chest with her arms wrapped around them and her forehead pressed against her folded arms, hiding her face behind her long dark bangs. She was shaking. He took a step nearer to her, his hands casual in his pockets because he felt uncomfortable leaving his hands flinging besides him everytime he walks.

"Hyuuga." His voice was void, tinted with a bit sign of impatience.

The trembling girl showed no sign of awareness at his presence, nor did she acknowledge his voice, so he tapped his left foot, weary.

"Hyuuga."

Again, still no respond.

He was in the middle of kneeling when a soft silky smooth voice greeted him. "You're Sasuke Uchiha, right?"

Sasuke moved quickly to his feet, turning around only to find a little girl with dark indigo hair and lavender colored eyes staring at him.

"Hn."

The little girl-maybe she was about five, or six years old- tilted her head, an innocent smile gracing her lips. "What can I do for you?"

The sharingan user replied without missing a bit: "Nothing." He trusts no stranger easily.

He was taken a back when the little girl laughed at his reply, shaking her head as if he had said something utterly ridiculous-in other words-as if he had been joking.

Sasuke Uchiha does not joke.

"What's so funny?"

She lifted a slender eyebrow, "You just said that you want absolutely nothing from me."

"Yes." He confirmed, crossing his arms in front of his chest. His time is too short for this chit chat. Who's this girl?

She looked at him in the eyes, and smiled. "No one wants nothing from me."

When he did not reply, she continued on. "Father wants me to be unborn, to simply disappear from history-poof-," she made a waving gesture, her voice oddly calm and her expression neutral. "Hanabi sees me as a huge failure, an obstacle keeping her from her dreams."

He had absolutely no clue. Who the heck is that 'Hanabi'? But he said nothing.

"Neji ni-Neji-san, considers me as someone who caused his father's death, and that I'm someone not worthy as a sister."

Neji has a sister?

She paused, eyeing him with a sort of speculative gaze. "Well,-Kiba and Shino- I don't know anything yet, but I know that they want something from me."

And it suddenly clicked. That girl, that little girl, is Hinata Hyuuga.

"Now," she smiled coldly at him. "What do you want?"

He gazed at her, "I told you; nothing."

She laughed again. "I hate it when people lie." A lavender appeared out of nowhere in the clutch of her left hand, and she twirled it slowly, tentalizingly.

"I'm here to bring you back." He said, noting how her gaze had hardened when she heard the sentence.

"What for?"

He did not have an answer to that.

She noticed his silence. "I'm happy here," she pointed at the slouching figure behind him. "She's happy here," a breath. "Because I'm happy and she's happy, it means that we're happy."

Steely lavender eyes looked at him. "We do not want to go back."

"You're lying."

The little girl jerked her head so fast that he almost thought her neck would snap. Her kimono-he watched with a bit curiousity-turned into red, and he also watched, with a bit more alert, that he's no longer standing in a complete darkness, because the color red spread from the spot where she was standing. Spreading, like blood poured into water, slowly. Until it covered the whole damn blackness.

"Why do you say so?" Her voice was eerily quiet, and she bent her knees a bit, as if she was threatening him. But he's not an Uchiha for nothing.

"If she's-you're-happy," he replied, unfazed. "She would not be trembling like that. She would be smiling. Simple knowledge."

She frowned and glared at him. "Well, at least there's no one to hurt her here," her voice suddenly turned harsh, throwing the words at him angrily. "There would be no one to stomp on her happiness, no one to ruin her dreams. I-" the color red around her grew darker. "I would protect her here. I would protect her like no one else's had."

The prodigy figured, from her long speech, that she must have been some kind of a defense mechanism, to protect its owner from the threatening feeling of sadness. Usually a defense mechanism would not let its owner become conscious until it's perfectly sure that the owner, in this case, Hyuuga is in good hands to spare her from further dissapointment. Well then he guessed he had no other way, he had already wasted too much time on that little pointless chat, and he only had little time left. He'll has to use the Uchihas special technique; lying. Something that has been passed down from many generations in his family. He's an Uchiha too, so it's already in his blood; the perfect ability to lie.

"I will protect her." A beat, and he looked at her in the eyes, watching as disbelief crossed her face.

She scoffed and crossed her arms, "Why should I believe you?" But there, he heard a tinge of hope.

Pressing his urge to smirk in triumph, he kept his face neutral; he had done this many times, so many times that in fact he no longer had the trouble lying straight to someone's face. "Because I'm telling the truth." He replied shortly, for he had learned that sometimes lies are better and more believeable with short but convincing anwers.

A heavy silence hung in the air. He held her eye contact, watching as her face contorted into fear; quickly followed by anguish. She broke the eye contact and dropped to her knees, hiding her face by the palms of her hands. "No, no, no..-" she peeked from a gap of her fingers. He could see he eyes then; wide, crazed, and filled with fear.

He took a step forward. And she flinched, which was understandable because he had intentionaly done it; stepping into her comfort zone.

He waited for a second before he took another step nearer to her. Another flinch.

"I'll protect her," he knelt in front of her, cringing at how cheesy it had sounded. "Because I know how it felt to be alone . . . To be . . . Considered as a disgrace," a lie, he's a prodigy. Maybe he's not as fantastic as Itachi; but his parents were proud of him. "I'll help her to stay away from harm-from people who want nothing than to hurt her."

That did it, she smiled.

And he was genuinely had not expected it coming; not at all. He had not expected her to smile adoringly at him; that little girl smiled and lifted a finger at him. "Pinky swear?"

He gazed at the joyful face in front of him and lifted his finger. "Pinky swear."

.

To Be Continued

.

A/N: Ta-da, sorry if it's a bit boring. And yeah, I'm also sorry for my grammar and spelling mistakes. Btw, he pinky swore! Lol. Leave a review please, I'm targeting 50 before the next update. Ciao!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto.

A/N: So...enjoy. Btw, check out Chibidinda's story, "Behind his dark glasses." From what the title tells you, it's about Shino and I think it's a beginning of a great story. And please check out my..Well, it's a two-shot but only one chapter had been published. I really need to know what you think about it. It's a Harry Potter fanfic, 'Never Ever'. No pressure though, just in case if you ever got bored. Thanks!

This chapter is for all of you who had gone to so much trouble of reviewing and adding this story to your alerts and favorites. Thank you. I'm sorry because there's no SasuHina real interaction in this chapter, but this one is a necessary chapter. I'll try to update sooner, but I'm in the 9th grade and school life has never been this busy, so, no promises. I promise that I'll try though. Enough with this nonsense. Enjoy!

.

Her breath hitched, her lungs were burning and she could not feel her legs. Her hair was plastered to her face, wet because of the rain. Her head was throbbing painfully - the rain was smashing her skull in a continuous manner - _Drip. Drip. Drip._

She could not stand, but somehow she's able to run. _It's adrenaline, isn't it? _It's adrenaline that pursued her to run, and she knew that, yet she still hated it.

She still hated it because she was running again.

And somehow she was not surprised because of that.

She was, after all, a loser.

Angry tears blurred her vision, and she tried - desperately - to stop them from flowing down her cheeks. She did not cry when she's going to end her pathetic existence, wht should she cry now?

Maybe it's because of that jerk. Maybe it's because of that jerk - Uchiha - who had ruined everything.

Everything was so perfect.

But he just had to come and screwed everything up.

And she had once again lost the courage she had before. She was too much of a coward. To find that kind of courage, to take one's life, was difficult for her - another reason why her father was convinced that she would not be able to become a jounin, but she had proved him wrong, and she had earned a wrath about how she should not steal something that she did not deserve, because there's still many better chuunin than her. Once again, she wondered why she had tried so hard to please him when everything she had done were nothing but mistakes for him.

_That damn Uchiha_.

She did not understand why he - of all people, cared if someone died. He's an avenger - seeing people die was nothing new for him. So why did he stop her? A mistake - because what he had done only left her in a deeper state of a mess.

She had woken up only to find herself wrapped under a thick blanket in an unfamiliar surrounding. With panic rising up in her throat - she had quickly scrambled to her feet, only to stop herself from jumping out of the glass window when she heard him speak.

"Sober yet?"

She had snapped her neck to the left to see him stepping out from a dark corner in the room; his gaze impassive and his arms crossed in front of his chest. Sasuke Uchiha. She did not reply, her fingers clenching on the cool fabric she wore - only then, she realized that she did not recognize the shirt she was wearing, and also that it was way too big for her. She took a step back, feeling color drained itself from her face.

The Uchiha had stared at her before he moved his gaze to the door and said flatly, "Get out."

She got the message.

So she ran.

She remembered his eyes, filled with anxiety as he squeezed her hand which was holding a kunai pointed at her own heart. And she hated him for stopping her. She hated him for kicking her out of his door without so much of an explanation. She hated him for ruining the thick wall of courage she had built.

She hated him for not saying anything.

She hated him for letting her run.

The edge of her lips quirked, reminding her self of how ridiculous her life was. What did she expect? Him fussing over her? Yeahright. She's not that naiive to know she's unworthy to be fussed over for.

Maybe an explanation would be nice.

But again, she remembered that she did not deserve anything of that kind.

Her eyelids dropped, and she collapsed from the intense pressure in her lungs but somehow she managed to stop herself from hitting the ground with her hands in the last seconds.

She shakily stood back up, her breath ragged but she continued on running anyways.

She had lost track of time, how long has she been running? She had absolutely no idea.

She ran.

And ran.

Before she finally halted in mid steps and stared at the massive gate of the Hyuuga compound.

She stood still for a few miliseconds, recovering her breath. She was cold, but her thoughts were focused on something else.

_She's back._

She pushed the gate open, the sound of it creaking in the silent neighborhood.

She stepped inside.

_...In hell._

.

"Where have you been?"

Hinata flinched at the force of her sibling's words. She kept her head down, staring at her feet which were firmly planted on the dark wooden floor.

"You're soaking the floor," Her sister intoned flatly, tilting her head with a cold sneer etched on her pale face. Hanabi had always been pretty, Hinata knew that, and yet she couldn't help but thinking that her younger sister would be a lot prettier without that superior attitude.

"G-gomen."

The younger of the two scoffed, brushing away the pathetic apology easily and her eyes hardened. "Father wants to see you."

Hinata had dreaded hearing those words, and she wondered why she even bothered to come back. But she figured that she had nothing else, and for her, that was a reason enough.

"H-ai," she replied, her shaking hands moving to fumble with the edge of her shirt nervously. She had expected to feel the touch of cool fabric under her fingers-the kind of fabric her clothes had always been made from, the one that could soothes her down whenever she was in a state of panic. It's incredibly sorry for her to be relying on those kinds of things for comfort, but there were nothing else for her to rely upon and because of that she always focused the churning in the pit of her stomach and the burning shame and humiliation to her hands, to be calmed by the familiar feeling. But instead, what she had felt was nothing familiar, for she did not recognize the silkiness of the cloth she was wearing. She then looked down, biting her lips as her eyes widened in fear for she did not recognize the black shirt she was wearing. _Oh no_, she noticed the emblem. It was carved proudly on the right end of the shirt. Small, but definitely noticeable. She prayed that Hanabi would not notice it. But it was too late for the little girl had followed the pale lavender eyes' movement and had noticed it too.

In that split second, Hinata's frantic mind was able to decipher the meaning of it. That she was in trouble. _Deep_.

True, because when she looked up, she could see negative emotions displayed clearly on Hanabi's face. Mostly, it was anger. "Isn't that the Uchiha's emblem?" She hissed, stepping forward to Hinata. But it was not a question, because it was already clear what the symbol was. No one wears a symbol similar to the Uchihas.

Hinata closed her eyes, defeated. _Kami sama, I'm dead_.

"Hinata? Answer me!" Her sister's temper flared, and she angrily jabbed her old sister's chest with her right index finger. "Speak!"

Hanabi was always known for her short patience and her sharp tongue, but her excellent ability did not go unnoticed by the councils, and no one had ever tried with her ever since they declared that she was a fine warrior, and that they could never ask for a better heir. And to note that Hinata was in the room when they said that.

She licked her lips, because they were suddenly dry and she did not like the feeling of it. What? What was she supposed to say? That Uchiha Sasuke happened to stumbled across when she was about to end her miserable existence? Unknowingly driving her back to misery? She supposed she could say that, couldn't she? But it would be worse than death itself, she knew. And it was not only her faith that would be influenced; Uchiha Sasuke's would take a huge turn if she said that. _He would be_…her eyes widened. He would be judged again, and she knew how it feels to be looked upon with speculative eyes, how hard it is to earn people's trust. But Uchiha Sasuke had managed to do that, and she vaguely remembered watching him being greeted by the old lady who sells grocery, the little kids that were playing in the river, and by a reluctant Kiba and impassive Shino. She also remembered that it was the first time she had envied someone so deeply. Uchiha Sasuke could have something that she had yearned for in her whole life with a few simple words of apology. Those and a little bit of time before the citizens of Konoha had warmed up for him again.

And despite of all the anger she had felt towards him before, she couldn't wrench everything out of his grip.

That was just who she was, she thought humorlessly. Just like what Kiba had always said, '_Someone who is far too nice for her own good_'.

So that was why, she did not utter a thing. Nothing escaped her lips as her sister glared heatedly at her, yelled at her in frustration because of her silence, and not even when her little sister's fist swung towards her face in blinding rage. Yes, she had let out a strangled cry of surprise, had closed her eyes in reflex, and she had even braced herself for the pain, but it never came.

A couple of second, before she finally had calmed herself enough to open her eyes.

But at the end, she regretted it.

Why? Because staring face to face with her angry father, was never a good thing for anyone.

to be continued.

A/N: You see, I had this chapter done quite a long time ago and had been trying to post it ever since. But there were exams, and I unfortunately had to stay away from my computer, bloody brilliant. Holiday's coming though! Cheers!


End file.
